Taggerung - Tumblr Posts
That’s how he got so big and strong to carry all the dibbuns!
This is the cutest art ever ever, Deyna is one of my favorite characters.
… I heard before Mr. Deyna came to Redwall he was in a gang
Via @swan2swan
.....suddenly reminded of the absolute SICKEST thing anyone ever did in a book.
Brian Jacques. One of the Redwall books.
There's a squirrel whose backstory is that she was raised by her mom until bandits attacked, and her mom took an axe to her head. She did not wake up. Obviously. Because she took an axe to her head. The child eventually had to leave the house after several days, fend for herself, and grew up. This takes place in Plotline A.
Meanwhile, in Plotline B...our characters run into a squirrel. She is quite mad. That is her name. Madd. She is bloodthirsty and off her rocker, due to a head injury. Turns out, she took a severe head wound years ago when she was attacked by bandits. She almost died, but was rescued after several days by a stranger. Sadly, he could not save her daughter, who was obviously killed by the bandits.
And that's the end of their stories.
I mean, not really. They live on. Both of them.
BUT THAT IS HOW *THEIR* STORY ENDS.
The Rumor Come Out: Does The Taggerung is Gay ?
sawney rath calls tagg 'son' as a way to assert power, not out of any kind of familial fondness or paternal feelings. he calls tagg son to remind the juska that he is the one who trained the taggerung, he is the one who the taggerung looks to. hes not taggs father and tagg doesn't consider him a parental figure. its explicitly stated. family isnt taggs motivation, or sawney's approval- predicated on tagg's compliance- would have mattered more.
I'm re-reading Taggerung right now! This is a lovely review! And really really interesting comments.
thoughts on [The] Taggerung
This is very long because I'm very torn on it. When it's good it's very great but it fails in its original twist.
All my favorite Abessess are dead 🫥. Well except Lycian I guess.
Here's something never mentioned - outside of Germaine's tomb, where are the Abbesses buried? Just by the vegetables to replenish the soil I guess.
I may be wrong but this may be a new art style for the chapters and only for this book. It may never be seen again in another story because I don't remember seeing it again (disclaimer - I get the ebooks and not all come with art) Pity, it's like the Marlfox art but with less sketchy lines. It's nice!
You've heard their names, everybeast has. Cluny the Scourge, Slagar the Cruel, Ferahgo the Assassin and many others. All of them defeated and slain. Redwall is so powerful, it killed someone who never tried to conquer it or even entered Mossflower Country!
See they mention Vulpuz! There’s a demon entity! AWESOME
Once again we have a great concept that's kneecapped bc of the strict dichotomy these species have. You can find fanfictions on the Redwall wikia where people have played with the concept of “good” species who are raised in evil (or in my 25 chapter fanfictions case, suffered a head wound and turned into vermin) and actually kill and commit crimes. We can't even give Tagg the vermin dialect. There's nothing to deconstruct here.
Sometimes he had admired Sawney, his strength, leadership and determination, but he had never really liked the ferret, never called him lather, never loved him. No internal conflict. If this had been written earlier, I'm sure we would have gotten a little. This is why Nimbalo is a better character because he has been changed bc of the abuse he suffered and is unlike most mice in the series.
The hares are wildly hit and miss for me. Scarum was annoying. Boorab is delightful.
We see the flatlands north of Redwall to the mountain. It's nice, lively, not as weird southern desert like where the ravine and Loamhedge is.
This may be the only book in the series with an actual theme beyond good vs evil, in terms of family. The ones you pick, are born into, are forced into, you lose, you leave, you make. You see it in the Obvious but then you see it with instances like how Boorab and Filorn are peas in a pod or how Fwirl (who is a rarity as an actual active female character who is noted as pretty doing things beyond healing) joins the Abbey, and Mhera supporting Cregga all this time.
Actually most of the redwall characters genuinely grow and learn something you don't often see in these books. It helps that it's not a huge cast, like in Loamhedge, the Bellmaker is killed early and they never name the man again. Broggle learned confidence, Fwirl and Nimbalo learned to rely on others, Filorn learned acceptance, Alkanet isn't shamed for being stern but grows to be flexible , Mhera did the typical Abbess MasterClass speed run.
One of the chapter arts suggests that Nimbalo is much smaller than Tagg. He stated to be a harvest mouse, when the non denomination mice of Mossflower are a bit more in scope with otters.
We need more Forthrights.
The actual drama of Tagg finally being back at Redwall but them not knowing he's the missing babe Deyna is very good and I appreciate how the reunion is delayed and not rushed through. There's a real sense of anticipation, and for my big critiques about the idea not having any follow through, this is probably the best 3rd act of any Redwall book. Maybe only Mossflower is better.
Somehow I thought Ruggan Bor just...walked away when Deyna said the Taggerung wasn't at Redwall lmao WHY did I think this.
Another point; You know how I said squirrels don't have a subculture like the other animals? There are very few, if any, shrews without a subculture , they're either Guosim or Pigmy Shrews.
There's a sliding scale of sapiency with some animals. Woodpidgeons don't talk, so they can be eaten. Other birds do, so they don't get eaten, even if that's the intent of the villains. Most lizards are sapient but some like Firl in Mariel don't talk. So when rawback was trapped in the swamp, did he go insane by eating talking lizards and frogs? Basically one out of two mentions and depictions of cannibalism in the series?
While there's a humongous missed opportunity with Tagg as a character, this can very solidly sit in my top 5.